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Subscribe to RSSIf the cease-fire holds for 24 hours, Israel will start talking about lifting border control on Gaza. In the meantime, Israeli ground troops remain mobilized in case Hamas resumes rocket attacks from Gaza. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Updated at 4 p.m. ET: Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire Wednesday, ending eight days of fighting that killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis.
“The United States welcomes the agreement today for the cease-fire in Gaza," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr. "This is a critical moment for the region."
The cease-fire started at 9 p.m. Cairo time (2 p.m. ET). Hundreds took to the streets of Gaza City to celebrate the cease-fire, NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reported. Celebratory gun fire erupted across the city, whose streets gradually filled with crowds waving Palestinian flags. Ululating women leaned out of windows and fireworks lit up the sky.
"Allahu akbar, (God is greatest), dear people of Gaza you won," blared mosque loudspeakers in the enclave as the truce took effect. "You have broken the arrogance of the Jews."
Both sides fought right up to 9 p.m., when hostilities were due to stop, with several explosions shaking Gaza City and rockets hitting the Israeli city of Beersheba.
If it holds, the truce will give 1.7 million Gazans respite from days of ferocious air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.
During the Cairo news conference, Clinton thanked Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi for his mediation efforts and pledged to work with partners in the region "to consolidate this progress, improve conditions for the people of Gaza, provide security for the people of Israel."
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the agreement, adding that he had spoken with President Barack Obama and had agreed to fight together against "weapons of terror."
"Israel cannot sit with its arms folded against its enemies," he said in a news conference.
Hamas paid a big price for what it believes was its return to the world stage. With more than 160 dead, and over 1200 injured, Gazans and their government buildings have endured numerous attacks. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Netanyahu paid tribute to U.S. diplomacy and Morsi's leadership, but also to Israel's resolve and the armed forces.
"I am proud to be your prime minister," he said.
According to the cease-fire agreement: Israel will stop attacks on Gaza by land, sea and air and stop incursions and targeted assassinations; Palestinian factions will stop hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel; Israel will ease the movement of people and goods at border-crossing areas.
Egypt is the "sponsor" of the cease-fire agreement.
In comments following the cease-fire announcement, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the army had been effective, achieving maximum destruction to Hamas with minimum loss of civilian life.
Barak added that the Iron Dome defense system was "an exceptional success," knocking down 500 incoming missiles.
The exiled leader of Hamas said that if Israel complied with the cease-fire, Palestinians would as well but they would respond to any Israeli violation.
"If Israel complies, we are compliant. If it does not comply, our hands are on the trigger," Khaled Meshaal said in Cairo.
Meshaal also thanked Egypt for helping mediate the Gaza ceasefire and praised Iran for providing Gazans with financing and arms.
The cease-fire that capped a day of 130 rocket attacks, brought relief to the region but also skepticism – especially so soon after a man bombed a bus in Tel Aviv, then escaped. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.
"We have come out of this battle with our heads up high," he said, adding that Israel had been defeated and failed in its "adventure."
"It failed, praise be to God," Meshaal said of Israel's eight days of attacks on Gaza, which the Jewish state said were meant to stop increasing Palestinian rocket fire from the enclave targeting its cities and towns.
Hours before the cease-fire announcement, an explosion on a bus in Tel Aviv injured 19 people, three of them seriously, an official told NBC News.
Tel Aviv police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the U.K.'s Sky News that the bus blast took place in the heart of the city and that the surrounding area had been cordoned off as police searched for suspects.
"This was a terrorist attack," Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Netanyahu, told Reuters.
The White House condemned the attack as "outrageous." In a statement, it reaffirmed the United States' "unshakable commitment to Israel's security and our deep friendship and solidarity with the Israeli people."
A bomb ripped through a bus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, wounding at least 16 people. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri praised the bombing, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.
"Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres...in Gaza," he told Reuters. "Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression."
More photos: Explosion hits bus in Tel Aviv
Sweet cakes were handed out in celebration of the blast in Gaza's main hospital, which has been inundated with wounded from the round-the-clock Israeli bombing and shelling, Reuters reported. Celebratory gunfire rang out in Gaza City when local radio stations reported the news.
The last time Israel's commercial capital was hit by a serious bomb blast was in April 2006, when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 people at a sandwich stand near the city's old central bus station.
Related stories
Analysis: Why Hezbollah is sitting out the Gaza conflict
'We are very scared': Egyptians fear being mired in Gaza-Israel crisis
'Army must invade': In southern Israel, support grows for action in Gaza
Americans caught in chaos of Gaza conflict
Like most Western powers, Washington shuns Hamas as an obstacle to peace and has blamed it for the Gaza conflagration.
A U.N. Security Council statement condemning the conflict was blocked on Tuesday by the United States, which complained that it "failed to address the root cause" -- the Palestinian rockets.
Meanwhile, the head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard has disclosed his country has given fighters in Gaza the ability to produce longer-range missiles on their own, without direct shipments. The comments, by Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency, offer some of the clearest insights on Iran's weapons support for Hamas.
Previously, Iran denied it directly supplied Hamas with the Fajr-5 rockets being fired at Israel in recent days.
NBC's Lawahez Jabari, Ian Johnston and Andy Eckardt, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Anybody taking odds on how long the truce will last. Muslim Hamas is not about to honor the cease fire. Their goal is the destruction of Israel why would they, the're just buying time to regroup. And when they break the truce will it be OK with you libtards for Israel to defend itself.
This will last forever I'm sure and they will learn to love one another
LOL!!!!! Now that's funny! Did you ever consider doing stand-up?
Good thing for our dismal President that he had Hillary's skirt to hide under...again. He is just so inept.....he actually went to Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia.....he is going down as the WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY
Hamas thinks this is a victory..it is a victory in a way..they get to live a tad longer then a week!
Those people smoking the sand to much!
It is all so sad. There will never be peace in the Middle East and unfortunately it is going to unwind very quickly since the current U.S. administration will sit idly by and pretend to care. They are much more concerned about syphoning off as much cash as they can, as prior administrations have, they have just been very smart about taking it to a whole new level!
So, as Obama fiddles the Middle East will burn, and within a year, unfortunately, it will begin to glow when Iran Nukes Israel. They know the U.S. will have no possible response to that. THINK ABOUT IT!
There has never been peace in the middle east. Must be something in the sand. Let them go on killing each other. lets send aid like more amo
Thank potential space aliens above and bigfoot that these people have found peace.... ok. sure. What good is it to be a terrorist if you want peace? Kind of like working yourself out of a good gig.
Thank you Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. You are marvelous. I think you deserve a nap! Also, after you leave the office of the Secretary of State, I hope President Obama will appoint you and Senator Mitchell as special envoys to bring about peace between Israel and Palastine. I believe you can get it done. You are just so gifted and we need you to continue for a little while, then I think you deserve an extended vacation and then time to write a book and then I hope you will run for President because I need you to be President in my lifetime. Thank you for all your efforts over the past few days without any sleep. Take care, I am a very grateful citizen of the USA and very proud that we have such a wonderful Secretary of State.
did you pray to that cow 6 times today??
Hillary Baffoonary. Man, pas me a few hundred million and I promise not to blow anyone up....
How can you believe that a terrorist organization would want peace? Its their business model to kill people. This is like twinkies joining the pro-broccoli movement.... or something like that.
luna is just a typical loony obozobot...who believes certain people are magical, and can solve 3 thousand year old problem in 5 min....or fix a free market economy
...Hillary is so UGLY, when she walks into the bank they turn the security cameras OFF! ...LMAO!!!
Great post, Lana....my feelings exactly. She is wonderful, smart, experienced, talented, and I dont give a hoot about her thighs......unlike the sexist pigs on this post who take every pathetic opportunity they can to put her down. I think they have a problem with powerful women.
Hillary is sooo wonderful....now come home AND TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT BENGHAZI. The wine-tasting is over, and after you spill the beans about why Ambassador Stevens died, you can go on Weight Watchers
Yuck. That was so sappy I thought you were being sarcastic. Then I realized you arent kidding. You are naive and uninformed beyond comprehension
Ok, so she is fat and ugly... a lot of us are and I suppose we should not judge on fatty and ugliness. But hey, c'mon, bathing, brushing your teeth, combing your hair, wearing some professional clothes that fit.... you can certainly judge that kind of stuff all you want to without any guilt or remorse. She is a pathetic piece of unkempt snootyness. snootyness?? :-) She needs a bath and a shave and stuff. Even college kids roll out of bed and sniff their clothes for something that smells ok and comb their hair and wash their face before going out... and they are half dead hung over.
that cow just paid the ragheads off...hey hill if you give me 100 thou I'll vote for you!!
cease fire long enough to replenish their weapons !!!! Why does the usa keep attempting the impossible. There will not and can not ever be peace as long as the state of israel exists
I bet hill has a bigger wang than obozo
...Hillary is so UGLY, she even makes blind kids cry when they look at her!
You two should take your circle-jerk stand-up routine on the road.
Hopefully somewhere that doesn't have internet access.
I could go muslim if it meant they could toss a robe over her.
Susan Rice has ZERO chance of even being NOMINATED, let alone CONFIRMED....this President is so inept, the LAST thing he wants/needs is any more conversation about Benghazi....he is trying to get as far away from that political grenade as possible. Her Congressional hearings would put that issue right under his bed, so, so much for her. McCain had it right, she is too WEAK for that big hat. "Colon" Powell is probably the right man of color for the job, but Jesse Jackson Jr. did resign today, so he will probably get an interview for Secretary of State.......or maybe he can be the new "drug czar"
Well he is going to get more conversation about it. If she was speaking for the White House then they gave the order to change the words in the message, and the idiot that is saying he was the one who did it has already been caught lying because he said just last month that he didn't change the message. This whole administration is corrupt.
I want to see Obama nominate her.....but he won't
Did H. Clinton or BO tell the liberal media how much more money we had to promise Egypt to negotiate a cease-fire? Possibly $400,000,000 more than we already give them as they continue to be our enemy except when its payday.
Anyone notice what Israel had to do compared to the terrorists in the so called cease-fire? Such a joke.
Amazes me that the Jewish people still think BO is on their side. He is on the side only of the Muslims.
Everything went according to their script. Hopefully the Middle East will be off the front page until after December 31st. That way it will feel like they don't exist.
I don't think Obama is a Muslim by any fantasy of anyone...but I do not think he understands terrorists or the minds of Muslims at all. He is naive and should take advice from Netanyahu who well knows whats going on.
no way Iran will get a nuke off the pad. if they ever even make a statment like that Israel would make a glass ball out of Iran
Hamas has already broken the truce and fired five rockets into Israel.
The peace will last until Iran can ship in a new batch of surface to surface missiles and then it will start all over again. The only way to stop this is for Israel to cut off the head of the snake. Then it will end.
she either paid them off or threatened to withhold payments
Either way it does not matter as long as it works.
Prog, what is your definition of "works"? Have Isreal stop defending itself until Hamas decides to start bombing again?
dont say that word (work) that loser will have a heart attack
remember the magic cow and the deal she made with north korea?? she gave them billions for a promise do give up nukes. a month later they tested their nuke..
do you think obozo and the magic cow could fix my hang nail??
I wish I could stop fantasizing about Hillary...
...Hillary is so UGLY, when she masturbates her own hand tries to fall asleep! ...LMAO!!!
the only reason they agreed to the ceasefire was to get that haint to go the f-uck away!
hillary is so ugly they have to tie a pork chop around her neck to get the dog to play with her!on the brite side the the rag heads will stay away from her!
@str8: ...LOL! ...Good one!
do the goofy libs even understand this problem is 3000 years old?? and the rockets will fly again real soon??
@joe: ...They don't care; It's not THEIR money they're spending!
this is about the 50th cease fire and was needed because the first 49 were so successful
Palestine has been destroyed. It is no more. Hamas and Jihadists within have force fed the Obliterate Israel and Muslim Extremist doctrines to the region. Any Israeli sympathizers will be jailed, tortured and dragged though the streets. No peace ever with Israel. This was never "Palestinean". Palestine is no more. Hail the new Jihadist wannabe State.
Obama could not do this himself....what happens when Hillary's skirt is not around to hide under ??
most People support there church by paying ties. Muslims Kill people